An ability that only exists in human beings

There is a saying by an ancient Chinese thinker, Mencius: "The noble who will not act lasciviously, the poor man who will not be moved, the warrior who will not submit; these are great men of substance." What this means is that regardless of how much money or social standing you have, it is only the person who does not let his thoughts or his spirits grow corrupt, who despite all poverty and mean circumstances of life does not change his aspirations, who does not submit despite all threats of authority and violence- only this kind of person is a real man. In short, live your lives without selling your humanity or your aspirations for money and social status, for good appearances or for desire. The saying means that a being that possesses the power of will to choose such a way of living, that is a human being. This itself is the courageous way to live and to be.

Well then, what is wisdom? It's not simply intelligence, education, or knowledge, no. It's the spiritual ability to discern the truth, a perceptual ability to grasp truth; it bills down to not sparing real efforts "to serve not only oneself but others too." Now that is wisdom - it is the destination which wisdom should reach. That's what I want to tell you. The character for benevolence or charity (jin) is written with the elements for two people. That means two people each equally treating the other in friendly fashion, but this can't happen without the mutual presence of hearts seeking to serve others. That is, based solely on our way to living and way of thinking, there are seeds of possibility that can nourish virtues of earnestness and true-heartedness that are separate from selfish desire and egocentrism, and these same seeds are what makes us human. Of course, even among other animals, there are examples such as the dog who would not leave the graveside of his dead master, or animals who go to lengths to help their companions. There are instructive acts such as when parents act for the benefit of their children. Yet, when it comes to acting wholeheartedly to help others, hen you do have the ability to exercise this thing that we call benevolence, even if you have to do so by trial and error. That just doesn't seem to exist outside of human beings.

If I may speak presumptuously, aside from the animals known as human beings, there is no being which can do what we commonly refer to as incredible accomplishments (kamiwaza, literally "divine works"). It was about five or six years ago that mankind first traveled to the moon about 400,000 kilometers away and then came back, and you know, the people who did that were neither gods nor buddha. This is the kind of approach I mean. And if you can make this approach your own, then you can get away from the spiritual intimidation and pressure of ideas like fate or karma that treat people's fates and abilities as things determined from birth, and you will no longer be fooled or manipulated by dubious religions. You will take up the courage that is yours as a person and the wisdom that is yours as a person and become able to face up to things.

(1974 sermon at a seiho training session)

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